Ash is one of three remaining finalists competing for a job to lead a fast-growing district with 47 schools serving about 44,900 K-12 students and another 300 prekindergartens.

Oakland High School Principal Bill Spurlock interviewed for the position the previous week. The next board interview will be at 6 p.m. Monday at the district's administration office with Richard Zago, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and a former principal at Stewarts Creek Elementary and Smyrna Elementary.

The board will vote to hire the next director during a 6 p.m. March 21 meeting, Chairman Jeff Jordan said.

Ash serves state's top-ranked school

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Rutherford County Board of Education member Wayne Blair talks about the search to find a successor to replace retiring Schools Director Don Odom.
Scott Broden/DNJ

The next director will take over July 1 the day after Odom retires. The district at this time operates with a $364 million budget that funds 3,434 full-time equivalent teachers and 1,804 other employees.

Ash leads a Central Magnet campus that U.S. News & World Report named as the top school in Tennessee and 37th best in the nation. The principal researched, designed and implemented the blueprint for the magnet school, which opened in 2010 to serve high-achieving students in grades 6-12 in Rutherford County.

Ash touted how his teachers prepared 88 percent of Central's students taking AP exams to score high enough to earn college credit, to top the 58 percent national average.

"Nothing is more important than the teachers," Ash said. "If we don’t have great teachers, we are going to fail."

The district needs to investigate and perhaps work with Middle Tennessee State University to learn why some teachers choose not to apply with the district and why others leave the district on their own, Ash said.

"It is vital to our success that we do recruit great teachers," said Ash, adding that it's also important to train, support and encourage teachers.

Growth stops without great school system, Ash says

Ash also talked about meeting with MTSU President Sidney McPhee to work on bolstering participation in dual enrollment for students to earn credits for high school and college courses.

A 30-year educator, Ash holds several degrees, including a doctorate of education from Tennessee State University.

Ash has taught and coached at Brentwood and La Vergne high schools, and served as an assistant principal at La Vergne High. He spent six years as Christiana Middle's principal and two years as an adjunct professor at MTSU.

Ash noted how he was able to blend students, faculties and families from Barfield and Christiana schools into one Christiana Middle that scored among the highest in Tennessee on value-added testing measurements.

When asked about working with the County Commission on funding, Ash said it's important to communicate to the commissioners about the needs of students and celebrate the successes for an incredible return on the investment.

"If we don’t continue to have a great school system, this growth is going to stop," Ash said.

The principal also talked about being honest in communicating with students.

"They are not going to be successful unless you care about them," Ash said. "You can’t lie to them. Kids just want to be respected."

Retired district administrator Claire Summers said Ash did wonderfully well in being succinct in talking about broad areas of education, including teacher support.

"He didn't just talk about Central, which is certainly something for him to brag about," Summers said.

Reach Scott Broden at sbroden@dnj.com, 615-278-5158 or on Twitter @ScottBroden.